Bar appliance.



W. JANSEN.

BAR APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, 1910.

976,657. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

' WITNESSES: lA/Vf/VTUR A TTORN E F8 WALDEMAR JANSEN, OF NEVT YORK, N. Y.

EAR. APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Application filed January 25, 1910. Serial No. 540,051.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALDEMAR J ANSEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, Astoria, borough of Queens, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a new and Im proved Bar Appliance,of which the followoff beer or for forcing air into the barrel, an

instrument known in the art as a tap is usually employed. The barrel is generally provided with a metal sleeve and with a stopple or bung fitted tightly into this sleeve, the bung being of wood and of proper form to enable its middle portion to be displaced. The tap, being centered upon the bung, is driven in by aid of a mallet so as to dislodge its central portion, thereby leaving a wooden ring around the entering portion of the tap. This ring, because of its compressibility, allows the tap to be driven some little distance inward and in consequence of the compression of the wood is adapted to become airtight and gastight within the barrel. It is a matter of common knowledge, however, that bungs do not work as well in practice as in theory. They frequently split, so that when the tap is driven into proper position, the gases are liable to escape. To prevent this is a purpose of my invention.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in section, showing a tap provided with my appliance and driven into a barrel so as to form a gastight closure for the same; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a different adjustment of the clamping ring and gasket; the gastight fit being, in this instance, complete without the aid of the gasket; Fig. 3 is a plan View of the adjustable collar to be carried by the tap and used when desired for tightening the gasket; and Fig. 4 is a detail showing the rubber gasket alone.

The tap is shown at 4; and is provided with a frusto-conioal portion 5 which is to be driven into the barrel. The tap at is further provided with two anvil portions, one of which is shown at 6. At 7, 8 are nipples whereby pipes may be connected with the tap for forcing air into the latter or for drawing beer or other liquid from it. A set collar is shown at 9 and is provided with a beveled edge 10. Thumb screws 11, 11 extend radially through the collar 9 and are adapted to bear against the frusto-conical portion 5. At 12 is a gasket made of soft rubber and provided with a portion 13 which fits the beveled portion 1O of the collar. The thumb screw 11 is cut oi, as shown in Fig. 3, to allow the tap to be placed close up to the rim of the barrel, where the bung is sometimes placed. By shortening the screw 11 the set collar can be moved up or down past the rim.

At 141 is shown the head of a beer barrel or keg and extending through this head is a metallic sleeve 15 provided upon its outer edge with a flange 16. At 17 is shown a bung made of wood and adapted to fit tightly within the sleeve 15. This bung is in practice usually bored nearly through.

The operation of my device is as follows: The frusto-conical portion 5 of the tap is placed against the bung 17 and by strokes of a mallet upon the anvil portions 6, the tap is driven in, the middle portion of the bung being displaced and dropping into the barrel. It frequently happens, however, that the bung 17 is split during this operation or, as sometimes happens, the material composing it may be already damaged. The result is it leaks, and the gas pressure tends to escape through it. To prevent this is the purpose of the collar 9 and gasket 12. The collar 9 is carried upon the frusto-conical portion 5 of the tap and is not brought into actual use unless needed. That is to say, it is nor- .mally carried in the position indicated in Fig. 2 and need not be moved downwardly unless there is an escape of gas either actual or threatening. When, however, this is the case, the operator, after driving the frustoconical member 5 into the position indicated in Fig. 2, loosens the thumb screws 10 and moves the collar downward, so that the gasket 12 rests upon the flange 16. The operator now presses the collar 9 down hard so as to force the gasket tightly against the flange 16. He next turns the thumb screws 11, 11 and this, by virtue of the inclination of the frusto-conical portion 5, tends to force the collar 9. down still tighter upon the gasket. The turning of the screws against the tapered surface of the frusto-conical portion 5, simply causes the collar 9 to move slightly downward upon the principle that the frusto-conical portion 5 acts like a wedge, and pressure of the screws against it tends to move the screws toward the apex or thinnest portion of the wedge. The screws being thus tightened, another blow or two of the mallet uponthe anvils 6 compresses the rubber ring 12 to an extent suflicient to prevent any leakage of gas, air or liquid through the bung 17.

' Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a tap, the combination of a body member provided" with a frusto-conical portion, a collar encircling said frusto-conical portion, screws extending through said collar and bearing against saidfrusto-conical portion for the purpose of moving said 001-' lar toward the smaller end of said frustoconical portion, and a gasket encircling said frus'to-conical portion and adapted to be spread by pressure of said collar.

2. The combination of a tap, a collar encircling the same and provided with a beveled edge, a gasket encircling said tap and provided with a beveled edge mating said beveled edge of said collar, and means carried by said collar and controllable at the will of the operator for moving said collar relatively to said tap in the general directionof the length of said tap for the purpose of compressing said gasket.

3. The combination of a tap provided with a conical portion to be driven into a barrel or the like, a collar mounted upon said portion, a gasket mounted upon said portion and disposed in close proximity to 1 said collar, and means carried by said collar for exerting pressure upon said conical portion in order to move said collar relatively to said conical portion.

at. The combination of a tap provided with a conical portion to be driven into a barrel or the like, a collar loosely encircling said conical portion, and screws extending radially inward and engaging said collar,

said screws also engaging said conical portion.

5. The combination of a tap provided with a conical portion to be driven into a bung, a collar encircling said conical portion, a gasket encircling said conical portion and normally holding said collar in a predetermined position of inactivity, and

thumb screws engaging said collar and also W ing said conical portion, one of said thumb screws being cut away to allow it to pass an obstacle.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VVALDEMAR J ANSEN.

Witnesses VVAL'roN HARRISON, PHILIP D. RoLLHAUs. 

